Bishan Park

A little interesting Friday for Bumpy and I.
We managed to wake up for a morning run/walk/picture taking at Bishan Park. One of the nonsensical thing that I have been bugging/asking/bothering Bumpy since he enlisted into army; when would he run with me again?
And on Friday since he get a day earlier to book out, that's when he kept his promise. Okay technically not a promise but he gave in to my request (at last!).
We had a nice start, you know warming up and aiming to run 10km that morning and at least to cover that distance in whatever timing we will take. BUT HOR. The moment we reach Bishan Park, it was a whole different thing. Okay, kitty's fault since I got amused by the surrounding and self-reminding myself to snap pictures later. Eventually we just totally stopped the run and just snapped pictures instead. Good job!

 
Definitely a park I want to explore more the next time round and hopefully run a whole round! Hahah. No more pictures taking the next time, must concentrate on covering distance.
As much as I'm still in agony that I have to run such a long distance. Still, you can argue that it's cause I'm not training for it that's why I'm complaining about the distance. But logically thinking, it's not even advisable for someone whose longest distance ran is 12km (two years ago?) to suddenly triple her distance covered in such a short time.
Least when I'm not constantly running as well. Sigh at weird peer pressure. Just hope I can survive through the run and at least try not to walk that much. Hello music, you're my only company (if Bumpy only accompany me after 21km). After that I reckon I'm calling it quits for such insane distance for running, I'll dutifully stick to only 10km. Honestly, it's short attention span.

Mmkay enough of scenery pictures, now is couple pictures! Hahah.

 
At the end of the run, I asked Bumpy for a couple shot where he piggyback me! And he agreed \(^_^)/
Well, we did ask a passer-by to help me snap the pictures, but what was surprising was that he even snapped the process of the piggyback, sort of accidentally.
And it's the only freaking picture where it looked as though I have toned legs. Must treasure this rare picture!

We started off with a run, continued with a walk and ended with a piggyback!
Best morning spend of the week, of the month! And after that we're off for breakfast at Long John Silver and there goes the calories I tried burning off (but failed).

Top of the 57th floor

The weekend has been crazy, that's the best summary I will give.
From Friday that I picked my Bumpy up from Pasir Ris till now, I think I have been having too much fun and a little too little sleep. Hahah.
We started with family dinner on Friday night with his family, simple yong tau fu and yes I am exploring more areas of Toa Payoh. Kind of an achievement for me since I barely touched much of Toa Payoh and it's always fun to explore the hawker food around Singapore.
Soon, Bumpy and I shall venture out towards hawker food (when our wallet is broke).

At night we had a birthday celebration to attend, so we headed down to MBS. Whoohoo. Honestly, I never been inside MBS rooms before, so it's kinda exciting to see how the view like (most importantly) and also how the room likes. And just maybe a year down in future or more, maybe book a room to stay there overnight and swim in the infinity pool.
Till then, I have my mind set on Studio M first.

No pictures of the birthday celebration though. Wasn't that close to the birthday boy and I'm there as my Bumpy's girlfriend. Though we had fun playing SMELLY WOMBAT. Hahah. And it's just funny how I stare too intensely at the cards. Guess I can't do any poker face or anything, or focus on two things at once.
How to play smelly wombat?
There has to be even number of players in the game and each player will have their partner sitting opposite them. Each player will be given 4 cards and the aim is to get 4 of the same number to win. Once everyone have their cards, the dealer deal out another 4 cards to place in the middle and that's when the madness begins.
Everyone would grab the cards that they want, in exchange of the cards that they don't want. And this goes on until someone have their winning cards. Now here the fun part. You can't let anyone know that you have the winning cards. Only your partner have to know through a special signal that you have between you two, and once your partner shout WOMBAT, you both win! But if you do the special signal and your partner didn't notice the signal but someone else does, they will shout SMELLY WOMBAT and you both lost.
Sound fun?

And I realize that outings with Bumpy never result me in over drinking or even me getting overly tipsy. Which is a super good thing 'cause he is helping me drink on my behalf. Although that mean drinking double but it also mean I get home in a good state of mind and not reek of alcohol.
And best of all, I don't get a bad hangover the next day.
Sensible drinking.

Instead, we headed up to the observation desk of MBS for the perfect night view of Singapore.

And well, we can't only take pictures of the scenery alone. There has to be people in the picture too right?

One thing you really detest about taking night pictures is the horrible lightning. It's either too dark or too bright. So hard to get the right brightness out without the use of flash.
So we kind of spend an hour upstairs with pictures taking, trying to get the right setting, the right exposure, and well, eventually no flash was used, and we used iphone torch light instead to get the brightness out, and also to set the iso a little.
Well, another reason to say I need to use my camera more. And not just leave it at home half of the time but actually learn how to take nice pictures with it.

But well, we celebrated the start of our third monthsary with a beautiful night view, and pictures taking.
A moment I don't want to forget.

Eventually after the party ended, and friends went different ways. Some wanted to drink, some wanted to head home, and some wanted to head to Pasir Ris for the next birthday celebration the next day.
For both of us, we wanted to eat!
And finally, like finally, Bumpy is bringing me to Swee Choon, after the countless times of me asking him to go with me. Super happy when he finally agreed!

We ordered about less than 10 dishes, mainly 'cause we weren't that hungry but still wanted something to eat. Some of the items that we ordered include: Char siew bao, Siew mai, Salted egg custard buns, Red bean pancake and carrot cake!
To finally try Swee Choon, I wasn't sure to be disappointed or like hmmm!
For one, I didn't enjoy the char siew bao at all. And for me, it's a super big deal 'cause I'm a big fan of char siew bao. So that's strike one down.
But to mke up for it, the custard bun was  not too bad, good flowing salted egg custard inside and it's good.
The carrot cake is awesome as well, crispy on the outside and nice chewy on the inside.
The siew mai also is not bad, though it was weird that it was served on metal plate instead of the usual. Though it's still not bad, but the presentation of the dishes wasn't that nice.
Overall, I might return back here again if I'm in the area but maybe not specifically.
Next place to try; 126!

Awesome fun yet tiring night. And I reckon during the supper/early breakfast eating time, we were both super tired and can almost doze off while eating. Hahah!
Every weekend my Bumpy is still guilty of sending me home late. Hahha. K.O. the moment I hit the bed. Too exhausted and needed strength for the next day.

Too much eating and travelling in a day. And it's a good thing it's only the weekend that I'm up that late so I have the weekday to regenerate my strength.

Yellow Ribbon

Today marks another day where I joined and participated in a running event. Collecting my second medal of the year.
To admit, I was kind of reluctant to run this morning. Firstly, I haven't been training for the run like at all. Second, I haven't ran in a month (or more) not since my Bumpy ran with me. Third, it's so early in the morning and my bed loves me too much to let me go. Hahah.
But well, it's a race I paid for, kind of not worth it if I didn't run in the end, even if I didn't really do well for it.

So up in the morning I got up (still very reluctantly), changed and got out to meet my friends to go together. The event provided free shuttle bus services from Singapore Expo which was really awesome. And that's where we parked as well. Getting there was no issue and eventually we hopped onto the bus, and were on our way to the starting point.
But first, baggage drop. I had to pack a change of clothes, slippers and towel. Standard packing for running.
They had trucks ready for the baggage drop off, and they provided big plastic bags for you to place your belongings inside and secure it with a band.

Kitty's caption: What are these people wearing yellow for?
Probably cats and hair colours the second main things on my mind right now. No hints needed to guess what's the first and last thing on my mind everyday.

The event was well organized, buses picking the runners up from Singapore Expo. Well seen signs to direct runners for their baggage drop off before directing them to the starting point.
Unfortunately, we weren't there as early as we hopped to be, and by the time we were done with baggage and friend going to the washroom, it was about 7.30am then. And the race was starting in about 15 minutes time.
Had to pick up the pace to reach to the starting point and even so when the siren went off, it took us like three minutes before passing the starting line. That's how far we were from the starting point. And with that three minutes lag time, the fastest person could have completed a km already (who knows?)

It was like the best weather to run. Despite other parts of Singapore having heavy rain, at Changi area it was cloudy (with the chance of heavy downpour as well) but it just didn't rain at all even after the race was completed. Though there were some times where the wind was a little chilly and with a sweaty body, it gives the chills.
Good run and venue, though the up and down slopes were pretty horrible. In my mind I was mindfucking myself and saying 'this is why I trained at MacRitchie'. It's kind of like self psycho-ing yourself to complete the race. And also how I know Bumpy wouldn't like it if I give up halfway during the run as well.

It's feel like a scenery run instead. Going back Changi Chapel & Museum, passing by factory and even having policemen cheering you on. Not bad I'll say. Hahah. And just at the last part of the run, we were running beside Changi Prison and the most unexpected is when we turned into the entrance. I was like overwhelmed. Like I'm literally going into prison. That feeling when you went pass the gates and know you're a 'prisoner' for a few hours. And turning the corners, you spot the big field where they have the end point and where everyone is gathering there. Inside I'm telling myself, just a bit more. You can see the finishing line already.

And with every race event, somehow the last km is the one where they mindfuck you the most. Just when you can see the finishing line, they decided to make you run a little longer. I thought it was a simple run to the end, make a U-turn and head back towards the end point. But no, they decided it was better to make another turn (Like straight and turn right, something like a L shape instead) before making a U-turn and running back. It's like that additional 300m that mindfuck you a lot. And quite a number of people didn't expect that and they started to pick up pace not knowing there was a little more before actually picking up the pace for real. Still sadly 'cause I didn't train for this run, I struggled a lot. And the last two km I slowed down my pace. Suffered cramps and it was just bad for me. Legs hurt like crazy while running 'cause there wasn't any proper warm up done.
Bright side, I finished the race though not my desired timing of below an hour. But it was 1.01:29. Just a minute above the hour limit. Hahah. Maybe if I didn't slow down that much at the last part it could be possible.
But hey for someone who didn't train or run for the last month. Spend every weekend pigging out with her boyfr and eating so much dessert. I'll give myself a good pat on the back.

After the race, first and second thing is getting myself an isotonic drink to hydrate and heading to the washroom. Hahah. Bad decision to be heading to the washroom though. I feel light-headed after the run and suddenly sitting down and focusing on something, I feel a bad headache coming up soon.
Thank goodness it wasn't a warm weather else I would definitely suffer a headache next. Yea I think my immune system getting weaker.

Headed off to collect our goodie bag and they give awesome items! Like they even personalized a piece of mooncake with the yellow ribbon stamp on top. Secretly saving that piece from my family to share with Bumpy (Shhhh!).
Collected a lot of can drinks as well. And even grabbed a big cup of water to proper hydrate myself instead of drinking too much isotonic drinks. Water is after all the best ingredient for the body. I was like holding the big cup the whole time, slowly sipping water from time to time.

The organizers even set up a separate tent where they display the route of acceptance. Elaborating how there are different courses that prisoners are able to take up while serving their time. From sport to culinary, you name it. They even have a mock cell to show you how small the cell is, the daily activities of a prisoner and the items they received.

The excited moment of texting my Bumpy to tell him my timing.
Was telling him that I aimed to finish my run before 9am and text him then. Hahah. And he surprised me back with long mushy messages.
We weren't able to play some of the games they had there (SIGH). Did want to spend more time there but time wasn't on my side since I was meeting my family later for lunch. Grouping back with my friends and finding each other, we got a group picture before heading to find the shuttle bus service back to Singapore Expo.

And here me...
Holding the big empty cup which I finally finish after an hour of holding it around.
And needing another cup of water instead.
On the bus ride home, I can really feel my wobbly legs and a bad feeling that I would be sore the whole day and the following day. Hahah. Next run, I better be prepared!

The formation of the Yellow Ribbon before grabbing a picture. And they are all wearing yellow caps as well. Hahah! It's a good run. And it is said that there were about 10k participants that morning running.
Well, sometimes during the run, I would be cursing and swearing that it is a long and tiring route, and why I didn't prepare well for it and also after 5k mark, I started to lose interest in completing the race 'cause it got boring running.
Other times, I wonder why am I torturing myself and joining race events when right now I should be running is to keep fit and for leisure. Not for serious training or anything. Then again, I got to work towards my final and last race event of the year; standard chartered. Wish me lots of luck on that, and hopefully to complete the race below 4.5hours.
Even asked Bumpy if he would like to accompany me to run, so at least I have company the whole route and not be even bored running the race. Probably asked him to meet me at the 21km part and he paced me the remaining journey together.

Life is like a race. At times we are not prepare for it, but we are ready to run it anyway.